Improved machine for making button-hooks



UNITED .STATES PATENT FFICE.

LAUnIsToN ToWNn, OF PROVIDENCE; RHODE IsLAND, nssreNoa To Tun LAOING BUTTON HOOK COMPANY, ou SAME PLAOE.

IIVIPROVED MACHINE FOR MAKING BU'TTON-HOOKS.

Specification forming part of Letters lPatent No. 86,473, dated February 2, 1869.

To all whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, LAURIsToN TowNu, of the city and county ofV Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Making Button- Hooks 5 and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure 1 is a side view. Fig. 2 isa plan. Figs. 3 to S,- inclusive, are detailed parts to be referred to. Nos. l to 4, inclusive, exhibit ar ticles made by the machine in its progressive stages from the blank to the button-hook.

.The same letters indicate corresponding parts in all the igures.

The machine herein described is especially designed to make the article used in place of eyelets for holding the lacings of shoes and gaiters, known as a combined hook and button,7 and for which article of manufacture Letters Patent of the United States were granted to William H. Shurtleff, bearing date June 5, A. D. 1866. The principles of construction which the machine exhibits -can also, with suitable modification of the forms of the cutter and dies, be made available for the production of various articles made from sheet metal which require to be swaged by successive operations into a particular shape.

The blank upon which the present machine is intended to operate in order to produce the special article of manufacture named is shown at sketch No. 1. Before being broughtto the nished shape shown at No. 4 it is necessary that it should pass successively through the forms shown at Nos. 2 and 3. The machine cuts its own blanks from a metallic ribbon, which may be fed to it by any convenient means. I prefer to wind the ribbon into a coil, and inclose it in a box, Z, Fig'.2, like abarrel forthe mainsprin g of a Watch, with the exception that a transverse slit is out through the side of such box for the passage of the strip of metal. A pair of feeding-rollers, R, Fig. 2, operated by an:y intermittent pawl-and-ratohet feed, l L, nip the ribbon of metal and feed it along at the rate required to present afresh surface of such ribbon to the face of the punch, which cuts out a blank each time that it descends. In' this respect the arrangement is like that employed by me in feeding a similar ribbon to the machine for makingsl-leet-inetal chain, heretofore patented to me.

` rlhe irst operation of the machine is to cut from the ribbon a blank, No1. This is performed by a cutter, D', whose face is of the lsaine size and outlinel as that of the blank. This cutter has a regular reci proeatin g movement given to it by means of a lever, t, toone end of which the stock D of the cutter, suitably guided, is pivoted, the other end of the le-` 'ver being pivoted toa link which is operated by a cam, 2, on the main shaft O in a well-g understood way. In combination with the cutter described there is a female cutter, 3, Fig.

8, into which the end of the male cutter enters as it descends, carrying with it the blank y which has been cut out. Upon theV return movement of the cutter its lface rises clear of v the face of the female cutter, so as to Vpermit the ribbon of metal to be drawn along for a s ufcient distance over the female cutter to 4presenta fresh surface, as is familiar to all acquainted with the operation o'f cutting and punchingmachines; Cotemporaneously -with thecutting out of the blank, or nearlyso, its circular end is struckinto the form of a dome, 4, No. 1. This is effected by means of a die, of proper form, cutin theend ofa plunger, 5, Fig. 1, which plunger has au upward movement given to it by means ofacanron the main shaft acting through a lever'underneath the bed of the machine similar in arrangement to the means de-A scribed for operating the cutter D. 'This plunger moves upward as the cutter D is moving downward, so that by the time the end of the male cutter has fairly entered the female cutter there will be found a female die ready to act in combination .with the cutter to strike up the circular end ofthe blank into the form of a dome, that portion of the cutter which cuts the circular end having upon'its face adome-shiaped protuberance corresponding in form with the die in the end of the plunger 5. There is thus, as the first result of the machine, aly piece of metal cut and swaged into the form shown at No. 1. The cuttingpunch leaves this blank upon the table and directly in front of the follower J, Fig. 7. This follower is a thin strip of metal fitted to slide between guides 7 7, affixed to the sides of the table. Its front end is shaped so asto embrace the blank,as shown. Upon the instant that the cutting-punch commences to rise after having out and swaged a blank the follower J is caused to push thc blank forward by the action of the cam P upon the main shaft working through thevibrating lever K, whose forward end is connected by a -link with the rear end of the follower. The blank is thus presented to the apparatus, where the subsequent bending and swaging processes necessary te tstreit the .finishedYY shape shown at No. 4 are to be performed. This apparatus, irrespective of its adjuncts, hereinafter to be described, consists of a circular plate or table, A. (Shown full size at Fig. 4.) It is intended that this plate, which is parallel with the bed of the machine and is located at the end of the table upon which the blank rests, shall have an intermittent motion upon its axis, making a complete revolution, with four intervals ot' rest. Its face is provided with four sets of spring-jaws, s s, occupying four radii let into the surface of the plate, and at. equal distances apart. One of these pairs of jaws is always, whenfthe pla-te is at rest, in line with the path of travel of the follower which pushes forward the blanks, so that each blank, as it is pushed forward, is received by some one of the pairs of jaws, and, being grasped by them near the tip, is held fast until the next operation has been performed upon it.

The necessary revolution of the plate A is effected by means of the cam Q on the main shaft, which actuates avibratinglever, X, underneath the platform of the machine, Fig. 2. This lever is linked to a ratchet-gear, as shown at Fig. 6, theratchet-wheel Shavingfourteeth, and is keyed to the shaft of the plate A,such shaft passing through the hollow standard G. The movement of the lever X to position for engagement with another tooth of the ratchet causes a dog, X', pulled by the spiral spring` 17, to entera notch,18,(shown in dotted lines,) and hold the table A fast while the swaging operation is being performed. Let it be supposed, now, that a blank has been gripped by one ofthe sets of jaws receiving it as itis pushed forward by the follower J. The two punchers or plungers f and e, attached respectively to the stocks F and E, now descend, actuated by the cams upon the two sides, respectively, of the plate 9 on the main shaft. The action of these punches is to bend the blank into the form shown at No. 2, the one striking up the body of the blank, so that the points will stand upright, and the other giving. the bend to the shank, itbeingunderstood that the edge of the plate A is cut away, so as to allow these, as well as the formers or punches, hereinafter to be described, to perform their respective functions. The effect of the punch or former f being to throw up the pointed ends of the blank, it becomes necessary to provide some means for holding the blank in its new form, inasmuch as the springjaws s s are no longer to be relied on. Ac cordingly a pair of holding-springs, 10, Fig. 5, are arranged underneath each pair of springjaws s s, so that the blank, when bent, will be thrust between them. The location of these spring-holders is best shown in the sectional View of Fig. 4. The plate A now makes a quarter-revolution, a fresh blank is now introduced in the next set of jaws, and the first blank, already in the form ofNo. 2, is further bent-into the form shown at No. 3 by the actiOn 0f enamel@ Or plunger. mellownel!large@Y, e .Y Y

to half-sizc at Fig. 3,) havinga movementin a direction parallel with the plane ofthe table of the machine, induced by a cam, 11, Fig. 2, on the main shaft. The plate A makes another quarter-revolution, a fresh blank is inserted in the next pair of jaws, and the rst blank, which is now in the form shown at No. 3, is completely formed into a button-hook (No. 4) by the action of the two formers a and b, Fig. 1, one working from above and the other from below the plate A, through the agency ofthe camS upon the counter-shaft T, which, by means of the levers 12 and 13, connected therewith, gives movement cotemporaneously to the plungers 14 and 15, from the ends of which, respectively, the formers a and b project.

After the button-hook has been completed the plate A again makes a quarter-revolution. A fresh blank is inserted in the last pair of jaws, and the completed button-hook is borne outward beyond the periphery ofthe plate A by a sliding plate or discharger, g, Fig. 4, which plate is actuated by a cam-groove, 16, (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4,) cut in the face of the standard underneath the plate A, a stud-pin projecting from such plate, fitting into such groove, and effecting the movement of the plate in a Well-understood way. The shape of this cam-groove is such that before the plate A has completed its next quarter-revolution it will have been drawn back to its former po sition; but while itis extended beyond the periphery ot' the plate A, bearing upon its forked end the button-hook, it is obliged, by the act of the plate A in moving toward` the first p0- sition at which it waswhen the blank was received by it', to pass Between a forked bar, W, concentric with a quadrant of the plate A, by means of which, when the platej is sheathed, the button-hook will be stripped olf and discharged. Underneath each pair of spring-jaws a similar sliding plate or discharger is located, and each in turn, as the plate -A is completing its last quarter-revolution, is thrust forward,

as before described. During the movement of these plates, so forming a part of the table A, through the second and third quarters' of the tables revolution the groove, being inthe form of a true circle, does not disturb them in their position.

It will thus be seen that the mode of operation which the machinery above described eX- hbits consists, first, in the employment of l s v V i proper cutting devices for cutting from a strip of sheet metal a blank of t-he required form; secondly, in swaging the end of such blank dome-shaped; thirdly,in`presentingthe blanks, so cut and swaged, in succession to the grip of a pair of spring-jaws, of which there are in this instance four sets corresponding in number to the number of operations, including that of discharging the button-hook, which are to be performed, occupying at equal distances apart four radii of a circular horizontal intermittently-revolving plate or table, such plate making a pause of rest after each quarter-revolution; and, fourthly, in swaging' the blank into the several forms shown at Nos. 2, 3, and 4 by the action of suitable 'instrumentalities as before explained.

I do not limit myself to the precise structure of the several parts, as described, but mean to include all merelyformal Variations of structure and arrangement, accomplishing the same arranged to act upon the blank in succession,-

4mode of operation by equivalent means.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combinatiomand arrangement ot'suitv able instruments for'cutting out the blank, the follower or carrier J, the intermittently-revolving table A, having holding-dies constructed as described, and` the doubleacting plungers or formerse and f, substantially as described.

2. The combination and arrangement of the intermittently-revolving table A, with holding diesconstructed as described, the double-acting plungers or formers e and f, and the radi! .ally-moving plunger or former e, substantially as described.

3. The combination and arrangementof such intermittentl y-revolvin g table A, with holding`` dies constructed as described, double-acting plungers or formers e and j', radially-moving plunger or former fu, and the two coacting'formers a and b, substantially as described.

4. The discharger f/,operated as described, in combination with the stripping-fork W, or its equivalent, for the purpose of discharging the finished button-hook, substantially as herc- LAURISTON T() WNE.

in set forth.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. TREsco'rT, WILLIAM W. RIGKARD. 

